Chapter Text
Part Four
Allison told her everything.
Okay, well not everything .
Not about the planning her husband’s murder or staging the break-in or trying to frame Kevin for the drug trade in Worcester. She skirted around those issues with a white lie or so about her own self-destructive behavior leading up to her running away from him.
She told her how she tried to cope with being forced to stay with Kevin because of her own fear of what he might do to her (based purely on his past actions) and how she had had an affair with her married boss and then stolen drugs off some poor trucker because she was just that desperate to find a way out of the hell she was in.
Then she told Avery about how she faked her own disappearance and spent six months on the run, unable to see the ones she loved. Including Patty. Her heart still ached at that, still missing Patty despite the fact that she was just in the next room, probably waiting for Allison with quickly cooling lasagna.
“But why did you have to go that far?” Avery asked. “You said he never hit you.”
“He never hit me on purpose ,” Allison corrected. “But I got my fair share of black eyes and random injuries all over my body from his…shenanigans.” She looked down at her knees, her fingers clenching as she remembered the time Kevin had left a pair of skates at the bottom of the steps after giving up on his dream of becoming a “street hockey legend” with Neil. “Did you know,” she mused, “that you can break your ass, literally?”
She looked up at Avery, who was wincing.
“Yeah,” Allison laughed, humorlessly. “You get to a point where you’ve had so many accidents, you wonder if they were really all that accidental, you know? Like, was he actually trying to hurt me? Why? What did I do to him that would make him want to hurt me? I cooked, cleaned, did the laundry…why did he want to hurt me so bad?” She shrugged. “It didn’t make sense, so I figured they were all obviously just–”
“Accidents,” Avery said, nodding. “Kyrie has had some accidents, too. Not, like, major ones, though. Usually just them tossing something to me and it hitting my face or landing on my foot or something. Nothing major. Never got a black eye or anything. Once, though, they spilled their coffee down my back.”
“Oof!” Allison said. “Was it hot?”
Avery nodded. “I still have a burn scar on my lower back.” She looked away, ashamed.
“It escalates,” Allison said. “It’s like that frog in boiling water.”
“What?” Avery looked at her, eyebrows furrowed.
“When you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it immediately jumps out,” Allison explained. “But if you place the frog in warm water, it feels comfortable. It stays put. It stays put if you turn the heat up, little by little, allowing it to get used to the warmth. It stays put even as it begins to cook. It stays put until it’s dead.” She sighed. “It never realizes that it keeps putting up with more and more heat until it’s too late. That’s what my relationship with my husband was like.”
They were quiet for a moment.
“That’s not really a thing,” Avery said.
“What?” Allison asked, her eyes widening.
“The frog analogy,” Avery clarified. “I heard about it in my womens’ studies class. The professor said that it’s a great analogy to explain abusive relationships, but it’s not actually a thing that frogs do.”
Allison shrugged. “Yeah, well, accurate or not, I like it. I’m glad I was able to get out of the pot before getting boiled alive.”
“Me too,” Avery said, bumping her shoulder. “That you did it, I mean,” she said. “I still have no idea if I’m out yet. I don’t think Ky is gonna let go that easily.”
“Do you live together?”
Avery shook her head. “I live with a couple of my friends near school. Kyrie gets to live in some kind of veterans-only housing. They were talking about moving in together as soon as we graduate, though.”
“Do they have a key to your place?” Allison asked, worried.
Once again, Avery shook her head. “Landlord only gave us as many keys as we have roommates. He has the spare in case of emergencies. It’s in the lease that we don’t make any more and we have to return all keys the day we move out. Kyrie tried to get me to break that agreement, though. More than once.”
Allison wrapped her arms around Avery and squeezed her tightly. “Make sure your landlord knows that they’re not supposed to come around anymore, okay? I mean…if that’s what you’re planning on. Are you planning to break up?”
“After that scene they just pulled in front of all my friends?” Avery huffed. “Yeah! They’re really not gonna like it, though.”
“Tough shit,” Allison said, then sobered. “If you need a place to stay for a bit, let me know. I’m sure Patty won’t care if you camp out on my couch.”
“Thanks, Allison,” Avery said, “but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Me neither,” Allison said. “Now let’s get some lasagna!”
“I hope they haven’t eaten it all,” Avery said, standing up and lending a hand to Allison, who grunted at a small ache in her back. God, she was getting old.
“Alec let Patty and I hide away the third one for ourselves,” she said, opening the bathroom door. There was a line forming, already three people deep. “Shit,” she said, quickly tugging Avery out of the way. “Sorry!”
“No worries!” Elvis said as they rushed in and shut the door.
Allison turned toward the kitchen to see Patty sitting at the table with two and a half servings of lasagna. She looked up as they approached.
“Fucking finally!” she huffed. “What took you so long?!”
“We were talking,” Allison said. “Is one of those for me?”
“Of course,” Patty said. “The other one is for Avery.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” Avery said even as she sat down in front of one of the servings and picked up a fork.
“If you wanted a chance to have any, yes I did,” Patty said, motioning to the two empty dishes on the stovetop. “They’re like animals, I swear. I’ve had three monsters come up to me, asking if I was gonna ‘eat that’. Animals.”
“Well, thank you for your valiant effort,” Allison said, patting her hand. “But we do still have that one in the fridge, you know.”
“Shh!” Patty hissed, lowering her voice. “Don’t speak so loud! As it is, we’re gonna have to sneak out with it under our coats or something. Alec had to hide it behind a bunch of old takeout containers so nobody finds it.”
“Yeah, college kids are feral,” Avery said, taking a bite of her lasagna. “Ooh, this is amazing!”
“Thanks,” Patty said, “it’s my mother’s recipe.”
“Well, give her my compliments.”
“You got a ouija board?”
Allison practically shot red sauce through her nose at that.
Once they finished their lasagna and placed their plates in the sink (“I’ll get to them tomorrow, guys,” Alec had said, “don’t worry about it.”), somebody turned on some music and people began to dance. There were more than there had been when Allison and Avery went into the bathroom, but not by too much.
The song piqued Allison’s interest, though.
Kinda wanna make snow angels in the grass;
Climbing on the roof, I don’t care if I show my ass.
Tell somebody I love ‘em and then take it back
‘Cause life gets so damn sad.
“Who sings this?” she asked. “I like it.”
“GAYLE, I think,” Avery said. “It’s a good song.”
“Have I heard anything else by her?”
“Abcdefu?” Avery said. “It’s pretty popular.”
“Hmm, maybe,” Allison said, getting up and tugging on Patty’s arm. “Let’s dance.”
“What? No way!” Patty snorted. “I don’t dance.”
“Come on , Patty!” Allison groaned. “Everybody dances! Look around!”
People were, indeed, dancing all around them. Most of it was just hopping in place or making silly gestures with their hands, but one could still call that dancing, supposedly.
Patty grunted as Allison tugged with her whole body weight behind her until she, finally, begrudgingly stood up and allowed Allison to lead her to where the other gay nerds were dancing in the living room.
Got so much annoying shit, but I’ma let it slide
Gotta be up at six, we’ll go to bed at fi-ive
We’ll lose our mi-inds, just for the ni-ight
(night, night, night)
Allison shook her hips as she tugged on Patty’s hands, making her shake her body a bit, as well. Patty, for her part, just let it happen, basking slightly in the warmth of Allison’s…everything. Once again, she was taken aback by just how happy Allison was, how she was just living in the moment right now, like she never had before.
She was so beautiful…
Allison glanced up at Patty’s face and the latter schooled her features back into feigned annoyance. She laughed. “Come on, Patty!” she said. “Live a little!”
Kiss me when you’re drunk like you’re stone-cold sober
Could be dying young, but we’re getting older
Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
I feel like, feel like letting go (oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
Don’t know what we want, baby that don’t matter
I do what I want, think about it after all
I feel, I feel like letting go (I feel like, feel like, feel like)
Allison’s energy was apparently infectious, as Patty felt herself starting to jump around to the music, as well, letting it move through her body as the song continued. Allison was right: it was a good song!
They got bolder with their dance moves, Allison twirling under Patty’s arm and then Patty dipping her as they began to laugh.
Jumpin’ on a table, like, “that’s my song!” (that’s my song)
Allison twirled away like a ballroom dancer, and Patty pulled her back until they were nose-to-nose,
Make out with my best friend, but it’s just for fun (just for fun)
Patty’s cheeks flushed as the lyric played over their heads, watching as Allison’s eyes widened and her gaze flicked down for a second before returning to Patty’s. Patty swallowed thickly and pulled away at that moment.
“I’m…” She pointed over her shoulder, toward the balcony. “I need a smoke,” she said. She extracted herself from Allison’s grasp and practically sprinted toward the empty balcony as the song continued to play.
Taking dirty pictures in the bathroom stall
‘Cause we look so damn good.
The song continued to play above Allison’s head, but she didn’t feel much like dancing anymore.
“Is Patty okay?” a voice asked next to her.
Allison jumped and turned to see Alec and Danny standing next to her, their arms wrapped around one another. They had obviously been dancing, but they paused now, looking at her with concern.
“Um…” Allison said, frowning at them then looking in the way Patty had gone. She was still alone on the balcony, the door firmly closed as she leaned over the ledge, a cigarette between her fingers. “I think maybe she was feeling kind of sick, you know? All that lasagna and then immediately dancing. She just needs a minute.” She gave them a forced smile even as her heart ached.
She knew that wasn’t it. But she didn’t know what it was . She wanted nothing more than to go outside and find out what the truth was, why Patty had looked so scared, why she had run away…from Allison. What had Allison done ?
But she didn’t.
Instead, Allison turned toward the living room, where people were still dancing as more unfamiliar music played above their heads, allowing Patty the space she obviously needed right now, even if Allison had no idea why.
She could do that much at least.